DAO: Before the End
by N7PhoenixFox
Summary: A short story of the last day Mahariel and Tamlen had with one another. Heading up to the moment they find the mirror which would change both of their lives irrevocably.


{Before the End}

A short story of the last day Mahariel and Tamlen had with one another. Heading up to the moment they find the mirror which would change both of their lives irrevocably.

( )

Mahariel took a deep breath in, feeling the weight upon her shoulders lift as she inhaled the scents of the forest. She brought her hand up to brush her short pale hair behind her ear. Then reached behind to secure her bow more firmly over the duel daggers on her shoulders. She had been in a rush when she'd slipped from her Aravel.

Tamlen led their little party of two, and she watched his back as they walked. The curve of his shoulders, and the mass of muscle which swelled at his biceps. On display due to their hunters leather. Her eyes flickered away as heat spread along her neck, across her cheeks to the tips of her uncovered ears.

Not for the first time was she glad that he was walking in front as her mind wondered. Even still, Tamlen seemed to know what she was thinking, as he always did.

"I can feel your gaze on me, Lathallan,"he told her, a slight change to his voice. He looked over his shoulder, and she caught his steel blue eyes for an instant before he looked away again. He chuckled, facing forward once more, "You are making me red."

No more so than myself, she thought. Embarrassed, even after his attempt to make the situation less awkward.

They fell into one of their easy silences after that, and her eyes, despite her efforts, still trailed from the high trees tops and singing streams to the back of his head. Hare brown strands brushed his neck and flicked out against his slight tanned skin. It shone a lighter colour in places when the sun rays touched it through the canopy.

She blew out a small breath which puffed at a short strand which had fallen in her face and forced her eyes down. It was time she started to pay attention to their surroundings instead. It was utterly foolish of her to lower her guard - the forests were not a safe home. No matter how familiar.

The clan had been within the same area for three months, a long time to be in one place. Herself and Tamlen had spent many of that time exploring the lands around while hunting or simply for the pleasure of a walk. Even if they had not known the woods as well as they did, she did not need to look at her feet.

She had once asked Hahren Paival, when she had been but a hunter recruit, why it seemed that she never misplaced a step. He told her that it was the grace which came from their blood, that of the ancient Elvhen. Her people were naturally more nimble. Her training as a hunter had only increased that until it seemed like second nature to know exactly where to put ones feet.

Hearon frowned at the small leather boots she wore. They came up to her ankles and the leather sagged around the rim from wear till the leather had gone soft. She wanted to take them off and sling them away in frustration. It wasn't that she disliked her boots, there were times when she thanked the Creators that she had them. Like in snow, or broken terrain. But she missed the feel of grass running through her toes, and the slight sting of twigs and stones on her soles.

Some Shems had left broken glass by a stream. A bottle of alcohol, no doubt. Hearon had the bad fortune to step on it. Normally she would have been paying attention, but Feneral had teased her about the fight her and Tamlen had recently gotten in and she'd placed her right foot straight onto the shards. Their group: Feneral, Herself, Tamlen and Merril had been relaxing by the water before she had gone and messed up.

Merril was too scared to heal it as there were large pieces still stuck inside. She was the Keepers second, and a Mage, but her healing was not where it should have been just yet. Merril had always been more interested in the forgotten Lore, and artefacts.

Tamlen had shot a look at Feneral before bending to lift her up. She hadn't complained, it wasn't like she could walk and she trusted her closest friend without hesitation. The only thing she had dreaded was the Keeper seeing it. As thought, the Keeper had not been pleased. Mostly at the carelessness of those who had left it, and at Hearon for getting caught up in Fenerals taunts to pay attention to where she put her feet.

The elders always remarked that their group of friends were far too careless, and in herself and Tamlen's case: attracted too much trouble. They had been getting into fights with local Shem children since they had learned how to sneak away from camp at the tender age of around twelve years. They never killed, not without reason, but it had been fun to travel to the villages. To hear stories, or to simply tussle just because they could. It was all good hearted, honestly. On her part, anyway.

Many of her kind had varied opinions of Shemlen - humans, and though she disliked the danger they brought to her clan and others of the Dalish, she did not believe that being at each other's throats constantly would help either side. It angered her that they would not leave the Dalish alone, even the clans were were civil like her own. That being said, when they had been forced to, the hunters had killed. Bandits or thieves usually, or humans who came with torches and pitchforks to murder them before they could move on.

"You have to wear them," Tamlen's voice had her eyes snap up to him. There was a smile in his tone, and her eyes lowered to his lips when he glanced over his shoulder in her direction.

How does he know what I'm thinking? She shook her head, they had been inseparable since they were five - that was why.

"I believe the Keeper wishes us to move on soon. I would have liked to be able to keep them off until we were set to travel again," she sighed, and tilted her chin to catch a warm piece of sun of her face. Tamlen paused, and she stopped just behind him.

"If it weren't for those damn Shems-" he cut himself off, let out a long breath and shook his head. She knew what he meant. He wanted a homeland, more so than others of the clans who were quite content to move around as a show of their freedom. Then there were those people who feared a repeat of the Dales. Tamlen, on the other hand, wanted lands which were theirs. Places which were undisturbed by those wanting to do harm to them. A home which was not constantly taken away or made to be perilous by ignorant humans.

She moved around him to place her palm on his padded shoulder. He looked down at her.

"Ir Abelas,"she told him, for bringing those thoughts into his head. She shouldn't have complained.

His eyes crinkled slightly at the corners as they softened. "There is nothing for you to be sorry for, Lethallan." He liked it when they spoke in Elven together, as much as they knew from 'borrowing' the keepers books, listening to the Hahren tell stories or what they could bribe out of Merril.

Something had been on his mind, she could see it below the surface of his expressions and gestures even then. It seemed to have started after their last run in. It had been four Shems, and a flat-eared elf from the cities who had caught them off guard. The city elf had managed to cut her chin with a small knife during the fight, and Tamlen hadn't been the same since. While she had been healed up when they'd returned with a few hunters who'd found them, he'd spoken with the Keeper.

She was not sure what they'd discussed, but it was evident he had taken most of the blame. Hearon had worn a deep frown, she remembered, as the Keeper scolded her lightly for being outside of the camp when they should have been in the relative safety of the group. Marathari knew however, that nothing she said would stop the two from heading out on their own often and Hearon knew that both worried and saddened her.

When she returned from her thoughts, she realised they had been stood for sometime and while she had drifted away into recent memory, he had been watching her and had raised his hand to her jaw. His thumb rested on where a scar should have been had the Keeper not used magic to heal it fully after the healers had cleaned it. She sucked in a breath at the contact-

"RUN!" Came a yell from deeper into the collection of trees. They both tensed. The accent was not of the Dalish camped nearby, so they knew instantly that it was of human origin.

"Let's go, Lethallan," Tamlen started in the direction of the noise as he unhooked his short-bow. She followed without hesitation. Since they were younglings, they had both taken it upon themselves to be the protectors of the clan; making sure that no threat reached the line of trees which opened up to their camp.

They would both die for their people.

She took her long-bow from over her shoulder and jogged to keep up with her best friends longer strides. She pondered, in a brief instant, how much taller he had become than her in the last few years.

They were both appointed hunters, had been for a handful of years being well into their twenties years. In the Dalish community, those appointed to hunters became recruits at sixteen years and were generally fully fledged by eighteen, when they received their chosen blood writing. That was when a youngling had reached adulthood. Even still, she sometimes recalled how her closest friend had been when they were younger, and it would make her smile at the fond memories.

She shook her head clear and her senses sharpened. If they were headed into a fight, then she would have his back no matter what. There could be no time for distractions.

Her short daydream meant that Tamlen had taken more of a lead. She burst out from beside a bush, and stilled as she found his bow raised against three male Shems who had huddled together, one on his backside on the ground. Her velveteen black cloak brushed the backs of her legs as she closed in on the space behind, and to the right of Tamlen.

"It's a Dalish!" One squawked, pointing a finger at them. Hearon didn't need to look to see Tamlen roll his eyes at that comment.

They had both been equally excited when they were younger to investigate Shemlen villages and scrap with local children as light fun but over the years, she found Tamlen had chosen less so to attend and seemed to have taken more of a dislike for the round-ears.

"And you three are somewhere you shouldn't be," Tamlen narrowed his steeled eyes, his voice low and daunting.

"Let us past Elf, you have no right to stop us!" A red headed one moved forward, his hands clamped into fists. Hearon tailed her arrow on him still he stopped.

"No?" Tamlen tilted his head. "We shall see about that, won't we?"

"We aren't bandits! I swear," the red head looked to her, as if she would be more lenient. "Please don't hurt us."

"You Shemlen are pathetic," Tamlen spat. She knew what he didn't voice, he couldn't believe they'd ever drove them from their homelands. Still, the three before them didn't look like seasoned warriors, they looked like three village idiots who'd come into the forest as a dare, or to impress a female. They were the usual excuses.

"W-we've done nothing to you, Dalish! We didn't even know this forest was yours."

"It isn't ours, fools." He didn't voice how close to their camp they had come. "You Shems are like vermin, we can't trust you not to ruin everything you touch." Tamlen looked to her briefly, a smirk on his mouth. "What do you say Lethallan, what should we do with them?"

While she could only guess to why the three were in the forest, she still needed to know for sure. She would not kill without reason. "Let us find out why they are here."

"Does it matter?" Tamlen growled, she didn't flinch, simply held his gaze with her own steadily.

"We're not here to be trouble!" One shouted, seeing that they ought to defend themselves.

"Y-yes," another started. "We just found a cave... with some old ruins. W-we thought there might be treasure."

"So you're more akin to thieves than bandits?" Tamlen snarled. Turning back to the Shems with narrowed eyes. With the reflections of the forest in them, they almost seemed liniment green.

"We know these forests," Hearon addressed them. "There are caves, but no ruins. You lie."

"But I-I have proof," the red head stepped forward and Tamlen immediately aimed his arrow at the Shem before he could get near her.

"Let me see," she cautiously held her hand out.

"H-here, we found this just in the entrance," he gave her a small stone with runes etched into it and a likeness of one of the Gods. She frowned and handed it to Tamlen. They had seen Elven written, but could not understand it.

"Is this Elvish? Written Elvish?" Tamlen glanced at her. They had only ever seen it in the Keepers secret books. "Where did you get this?!" He closed his fingers around the stone.

"T-there's more!" The human cried. "In the ruins...we didn't get very far in though."

"And why is that?" Hearon stepped in after looking at the rage on Tamlen's face. She knew he hated that the Shems had touched anything of there's.

"There was a demon - with huge black eyes! Thank the maker we were able to make it out of there." They were either wild storytellers or had indeed been running from something which had spooked them.

She caught Tamlen's eye. Knew he wouldn't believe anything they said. But she was worried about whatever it was being so close to camp - demon, ruins or nothing at all, they had to know.

Tamlen looked back to them and scoffed. "A demon? Where is this cave, then?"

"Just off he west, I think. There's a huge rock face and the cave just inside the hole beneath it."

"Well," Tamlen looked to her, never lowering his bow. "Do you trust them? Should we let them go?"

"We've scared them enough," she said, her voice low. Killing them would bring more trouble than letting them go. The clan needed to move on anyway.

"Be gone then Shemlen," Tamlen snapped. "And do not return until we have moved on." The humans thanked them, but her attention was on Tamlen as they rushed away.

She braced herself for what was to come. "You are too soft, Mahariel." He sheathed his bow upon his back, and looked at her from the side. Only once had he ever called her by her given name, and that had been years ago.

She pulled a face, her white hair fell down into her eyes. "They were fools, Tamlen. No more dangerous than the Younglings we used to brawl with in the villages. There was no need for their deaths. I have no doubts they will announce our presence, the clan needs to move on anyway. There would only be more hostility the next time a clan moves around these parts if we kill them in cold blood."

He studied her for a moment. "I see," he said. "You have been listening to Hahren Paivel's views, it seems."

"I have," she couldn't lie. Their Elder could not see the cause for more war between the elves and the humans. She certainly did not want more slaughter. Yes, they lived in different ways but she could not see why they could not live side by side. Each had something to learn from the other.

He smiled then, and her carefree close friend returned. Hiding the man who seemed to have too many thoughts in his head. "Well, shall we see if there's any truth to their story? I am curious about this artefact."

"Yes. Whatever it is, we need to investigate with it being so close to camp." She watched as he balanced the stone on his palm. Tamlen had always been the one most interested in their forgotten Lore, even more so than Merril perhaps, who's job it was to collect it. While she herself studied as much as she could, she did not let it blind her as many did.

There was something more to why he wanted to investigate, more so than simply the knowledge.

Hearon sighed. "If we find anything..."

"Let us see if there is anything to investigate first," he told her. She watched him put the stone into the small pocket on his belt, behind his own dark cloak.

She nodded, reluctantly. Then sheathed her bow over her shoulder. "Lead on," she told him.

He looked around. "The Shems said to the West, so this way," she did not doubt his sense of direction. Hunters learned from a young age to track and make sense of where they were even beneath the trees and without the aid of the sun, stars or moon.

They began down the path, as they had done before but this time she was too deep in thought to admire their surroundings, or the man in front of her. If they found nothing then they would return to the keeper to inform her of the Shems, and the inevitable event which would lead to more seeking out their camp.

"Weren't you supposed to be assisting Master Verathorn today?" Tamlen slowed his pace to be able to raise a brow at her over his shoulder.

"Yes," Hearon looked up. The keeper would no doubt have some choice words for her when they returned but she couldn't allow Tamlen to hunt by himself. "But I wanted to be with you." And spend time with you, as much as I possibly can. His change in mood had thrown her off, and it made her uneasy so she wanted to make sure all was well with her - between them.

When they had reached a certain age, they hadn't been allowed to share a tent together. That meant that when they'd been younger, and she had stayed over at his or she at hers they would have spent entire days with one another. She knew many people in the clan hoped to see them share their own one day.

"I thought as much," she thought she saw heat on his high cheek bones. "I'm glad," he added, and looked away.

She almost faltered with her steps, as an elf never did at his words. She rightened her steps, but there was no way Tamlen hadn't noticed her nearly fall flat on her face.

"Let us speak afterwards, Lethallan," he looked to her, and she saw something flickered behind those steel blue eyes. She nodded, her mouth too dry to speak.

They encountered a stray wolf along the way who had taken down one of the wild Halla which roamed the forest. They crouched down beside a large trunk to watch it.

"Is it alone?" Tamlen asked her.

She frowned as she watched the large white beast. Being a Ranger, a rare gift given by her blood, she had a sort of tie with nature, more so than any other Dalish. And wolves...well, her father had been named White Wolf and that was all she knew.

She shook her head in answer to his question, "he is apart from his pack. There is no danger of them surrounding us. He must have been shunned."

"What should we do?" Tamlen placed a hand on the trunk to steady himself, and she stared at it briefly, thinking.

"We should put him out of his misery," she said, a sorrow to her voice. The humans laid traps out all along the forests, and he could cause more harm if they left him to his own devices. Wolves did not last long outside of their pack, much like a Dalish. If he became enraged at having no food, then he would undoubtedly feel the need to feed on a person or travel straight into a village.

Tamlen nodded once, slowly. "Do you want me to do it?" He asked because he knew she felt a tie with the beast.

"No, Lethallin," she told him. "I will do it." Hearon pulled of her bow and carefully crept closer. She cocked one arrow and took aim. With control breathing, she was able to hit the wolf at a point where it did not suffer longer than necessary. It sank to the ground in seconds.

She kept her long bow at her side as she rounded the path to kneel down beside the animal. She touched it's mussel and closed her eyes. Whispering a prayer to the Creators. Tamlen placed his hand upon her shoulder.

"He has returned to the land now, Lethallan."

She opened her eyes, and then stood to give her friend a small smile. Her odd iridescent blue, green eyes softened. He knew it pained her to do it, but it was what must be done. Hunters were conditioned to think such a way, otherwise they would never have enough food to survive. Sometimes, she thought, Merril had it easier as the Keepers first. But then, she would one day have the whole clan go guide.

"Let us carry on," she said, just before she lifted her arm and squeezed his forearm with her hand lightly as a thank you.

"As you say, Lethallan," he bowed his head once. They could have moved the bodies from the path, but she could not bring herself to do it.

They walked closer together after that, for safety and because they enjoyed each others company. Their relationship had changed over the years. From when they were younglings who would scrap, to helping each other study and become hunters, then after they would spend a lot of time either in the forest, just the two of them, or sat round the fire together.

Her fingers twitched as her arm brushed his for what must have been the tenth time. Each tiny contact made her blood jolt inside her, made the skin on her neck tingle. Her cheeks heated as she looked away, then let out a little breath.

Perhaps she could-

The feel of Tamlen's large warm hand wrap around hers had her jump, and her heart hammer against her chest.

"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered, appearing younger than he looked. They might have been adult in age, but they were both stepping in new, slightly scary yet invigorating territory.

"N-no," she stammered back. "I don't mind."

They stared at each other then, both flushed and wide eyed. Then she smiled, showing her teeth and he followed suit, his eyes crinkled around the corner. Her heart soared. They had made a first step along a path her heart had been aching for secretly.

"Come on," he said, with a light pull on their joined hands. His voice was gruff as they started walking again.

There was no more incidents as they followed the path towards the west, and that worried her slightly. The Shemlen had been running from something, they were not good enough actors to deny that. The question was; what had it been? Had they honestly found an old Elven ruin, or had they perhaps been doing something else unsavoury in the forest?

Hearon would have usually suspected the group had been up to no good but the stone meant there was a large possibility that the Shems spoke the truth. Even if they had made the object themselves, to trick them into a trap, there was surely no way they would be able to copy Elven writing. Even the Dalish themselves struggled to find bits and pieces of it. No, it was as if she could sense that the object was real - they had yet to see if it was a trap, however.

Her lips twisted in discomfort as they neared a large cliff face. Vegetation grew off of it which was why the cave seemed hidden, in amongst the trees and the vines. "There," she pointed, towards a dark shadow below.

"Indeed," Tamlen stopped, and let go of her hand. Excitement was clear on his face. She felt disappointed at the loss of contact, but knew they both needed their hands to defend themselves if needs be. She shifted into her cautious, hunter self almost seamlessly as she made her feet silent to approach the opening in front of Tamlen.

"We should be careful," her eyes switched from watching the cave to Tamlen's amused face.

"Always the careful one," he chuckled. "There's no need to go running back to the Keeper until we know what's inside."

"Okay, Tamlen," she nodded. The feeling of dread intensified in her stomach but with the look on his face, she didn't want to make an argument out of it.

Tamlen started making his way down to the cave, and she followed after. As they walked through the stone, her eyes widened when her leather boots hit some sort of old flooring and pillars rose to great them.

"It's real," Tamlen breathed, from beside her. His expression equally as shocked, and amazed.

Her face dropped, when she realised something. "Why did you want to come here so badly, Tamlen?"

He looked at her, through the corner of his eye. "Why wouldn't I want to find something that could give us answers into the old ways?"

"I know there's something else," she found her eyes flickering from him, to the ruins further along. They didn't feel...right.

He laughed nervously and scratched his temple, "You've caught me, Lethallan. I was hoping if we found something, Marathari would let me off with...you know, the last incident."

The fight they had gotten into, he meant. Her expression smoothed over. She hadn't fought with him over taking the blame, it would have gotten her no where. He was quite stubborn, when he wanted to be. Especially over things he believed in.

"Don't worry about it, Lethallan." His gaze lingered on the entrance. "Let's go further in."

Her jaw clenched. "I have a bad feeling about this place." Tamlen looked at her then.

"We'll just take a look, then come back out," she frowned at him, but then agreed. Only a look, to make sure there was no demon which would hunt the clan, then she would turn back and leave. Hopefully Tamlen would follow without resistance.

As they walked further down onto the stoned floor, her eyes darted about and her fingers itched for her weapons. "These ruins look human," she caught the frown on his light brown brows.

Hearon shrugged. "Do you think the Keeper would want to come here?"

"Yes," he answered. "Though not without hunters with her...but since when did the Shems live underground, and why would some of our artefacts be here?"

"I don't know," Hearon shook her head.

"Hmm," Tamlen murmured, obviously deep in thought. She was the first to notice the webs. She snatched for her bow, and managed to hit one of the oversized spiders before it could scuttle any closer.

Tamlen cried out in surprised, then gabbed his short sword and shield to stab the other as she aimed an arrow for one of its eyes. When the first one was down, she kept her weapon in her hand and looked around.

"There's bound to be some strange creatures in a place like this," Tamlen pointed out, while heading towards a door which must lead further inside.

Hearon did not think the humans would mistake the spiders for demons. Yes, they were unusual, the oversized cave spiders, but they were to be expected in a underground place which had been forgotten.

As she walked up behind her friend, he jostled the door open and a layer of dust fell to the ground. It billowed out to catch her boots and the bottom of her cloak. She watched it settle, then looked up to see Tamlen had already gone through.

"Tamlen," she called, not too loud to alert any else which lurked. He waited for her only momentarily before starting onwards again.

He was distracted as they fought through more Spiders, into a great hall and beyond. The further her feet traveled, the more she wanted to take him by the back of his cloak and pull him away.

When they finally made it to a run down hallway, he spotted a statue of some kind. He hurried over to it, while she tried to protect his back. Keeping her eyes on the ceiling for more webs, or anything else which could be hidden.

"Do you know what this is?" Tamlen stretched his hands out in front of him to gesture to the grotesque looking thing. She had seen the imagine before, and while she believed in the Creators, she did not like the way they were depicted. It was a winged woman - completely unnatural and had been on the rune the Shems had found.

"Enough chattering," she shook her head. "Tamlen, we need to move on."

"Touchy, aren't we?" Tamlen grinned at her, but ultimately ignored her words. "Why is this down here?"

Hearon breathed out a sign. -

She moved backwards then force when she felt her heal click down onto something. The old place was full of traps, and she'd been too worked up to notice one directly behind them. Has suddenly burst around them, and she coughed violently as she lurched forward, taking Tamlen out of the radius with a large push.

"Letha-!" He shouted, and she looked behind her with stinging eyes to find the corpses on the floor had rose to their feet. One jumped up beside her closest friend and she cried out in horror.

Her reflexes took over as her fingers snatched a feathered arrow, cocked it on the taunt string of her bow and let it fly loose. It sank into the skull of the walking corpse, which knocked it back but it still stood.

"Tamlen, use your blade!" She ordered, just as more eery moans sounded from directly behind her. Spinning on her booted heels, she lashed out with her bow at two oncoming corpses to push them back. With no time to shoulder it, she threw it to the side where she heard the string snap. Sorrow rang through her for a moment, then she gripped the handles of her daggers to lay waste to the unnatural creatures.

The gangly mass of bones and dried skin were fast, more so than she thought the fragile looking bodies to allow them, but all that matters was - she was faster. They swung with rusted swords or snatched for her with their nastily sharp nails. She ducked and moved between the two. Her blades never seemed to cease movement as they hacked into hardened flesh.

There was no time to look to Tamlen to see how he fared but she took some comfort in the sounds of metal against metal not too far away. If he was able to fight, to parry, then he was alive.

Though the creatures were thin, their rotten bones and lifeless bodies would not go down. She let out a breath as her hair fell into her face. "Lethallan!" Tamlen cried, and she felt her heart wrench. Turning to see him defeat his enemy, he came running for her.

She looked to the nearest of her foes, spun and swiped with all her might. The end of her blade severed its head from its neck party, then she kicked out at his legs. It collapsed onto the ground beside her broken bow. The air shifted, and she tensed her shoulders in time to bring her blades up and together to catch the downward slashed sword. She gritted her teeth at the shock which slammed through her arms, then twisted her weight. The sword crashed down to the ground, and she rammed a blade into its chest before propelling it towards the wall.

Using the other, she reasoned that she had to cut across the creatures neck in an attempt to sever its head. It seemed the only way to kill them as Tamlen had run his sword through the first skull and it had remained still.

"Lethallan, move!" She glanced out of the corner of her eye as he pierced the creature trying to rise, then turned and rammed his bade into the neck of the one she'd been holding. Hearon breathed heavily as the third twitched, then failed to move anymore. Hearon had stepped out of reach, but her face was still close enough to the still singing blade to see the surface of the steel vibrate from where it had connected with the wall.

Her eyes met with Tamlen's, his breaths as laboured as her own for long moments where neither moved or spoke. He lowered his sword, and the tip brushed the ground. Her hands were wrapped so tightly around her daggers that her knuckles were pink and white.

"Hahren Paival once spoke about a place such as this,"Tamlen began, as he sheathed his sword. His shield lay broken beside the first to attack them. Yet she didn't take her eyes off her closest friend. Hearon didn't know what she wanted to do in that moment: whether to smack him, or hug him to her and clutch his cloak at his back. His words meant she had time to do neither.

"How so?" Her voice sounded brutal to her own ears. The fight still tingled through her arms, and legs - she almost felt they would fall out beneath her.

"A place where the Veil is thin. Sethanara - he called it."

"I don't like that idea," she summarised, and managed to sheath her blades at her back without too much shake in her actions. She looked to her bow then. When Tamlen noticed her gaze, he followed it.

"Oh, Lethallan. Your bow!" It was one she had crafted with him when they had been tasked with learning how a few years ago. Now it lay broken, and she did not like that omen.

"We're leaving,"she told him, and didn't wait for an answer before she went to her bow and bent beside it. Perhaps she could re-string it.

"We can't do that yet," his tone sounded almost like a whine. Hearon gritted her teeth. When she noticed there was a crack along the wooden arch of her bow, she knew it could not be mended. With a shake of her head, she let it fall to the ground and turned on her closest friend.

"The door through there must lead to the centre," he pointed to it, the one behind the pressure plate she'd stepped on. "We're here now, we might as well look. There's no point coming all this way for nothing."

"Tamlen!" She shouted as he started for it, and she sped up behind him.

"We defeated those corpses, Lethallan. Don't worry so much," he said, and placed a hand on the single door which had two pathways leading to it.

It swung open before she could prevent it, and inside was a larger beast than the corpses had been. It was a corrupted bear, by the looks of it.

"Give me your bow," she barked, as the beast clambered towards them in the opening. Tamlen hesitated a moment, fright on his face.

"Tamlen," she shouted, and that shook his from his stupor. He quickly handed it over to her, and she levelled one of her arrows at the beasts feet. It connected, and it was momentarily pinned to the spot.

Tamlen saw his opening, and he launched at the bear with his sword drawn once again. "Stay behind it," she shouted, then ran into the domed room to keep shooting arrows at the beast to keep its attention split in two.

When the corrupted bear roared, and spun to swipe at Tamlen, a scream left her throat. The weight on the leg knocked Tamlen off his feet, and send the sword skidding into a pile of roots. She dropped his bow instantly, and ran at the beard back with her daggers drawn. She slashed at his back leg, which cause it to stumble over her closest friend, then she rammed a blade into its neck. It staggered further, and she was able to release her blade in its neck and reach for Tamlen to drag him from beneath it.

He was heavy and she stumbled, and they both watched as the corrupted beast made a groaning sound before it fell on its side, her blade sticking out from its neck. Her legs suddenly felt weak and she sank to her knees with Tamlen's back resting on her knees and their arms entwined.

"You saved me, Lethallan," his voice wavered slightly, and she found she was unable to talk. Her head fell forward to rest on his head, she breathed in his scent and felt his hair tickle her sweat streaked nose.

"T-that mirror...," he spoke, after long minutes. Hearon reluctantly raised her head and found the mirror he spoke of towering beside them. She hadn't even noticed in the fight, was too concerned for Tamlen.

He gingerly got to his feet, and offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. Then they both moved to look at it.

"What's that writing on it?" He tilted his head forward, and squinted his eyes. "Is it more Elvish?"

"Perhaps the Keeper can translate it," she let out a breath.

"She's not here now," he pointed out, and she frowned. Looking at him with a hard stare.

"W-what was that?" He said suddenly, and pointed to the strange coloured glass. "Something moved behind it."

His brows knitted together. "You're imaging things, Tamlen." Though there was doubt and dread in her voice. The Keeper needed to be the one to see it, she would know how to deal with it.

"I saw it again," he cried, and stepped up the few steps which sat before it. She sucked in and breath, and stepped up after him. She saw nothing.

"It's a city," he told her, and reached out for it. She raised her tired arm to take his hand away when she noticed a ripple out of the corner of her eye. Dread snatched her heart so tightly she thought it would cease to beat.

"It saw me!" He gasped, and she looked to him with wide eyes, her hand stuck in the air towards him. "H-help me! I can't look away!"

She opened her mouth to cry his name, and the tips of her fingers brushed his arm but there was an explosion of light and her body flew through the air. By the time her back hit the stone floor, her vision was already darkened.

Pain racked her head. Her eyes blistered with white light as she tried with all her might to open them. Orbs danced along her vision when she did peeled her crusted eyes open and saw...a human...what had happened? What had they done!

"I am so sorry," the voice told her, and then she sank back into blankness.

...

Apologies for the spelling mistakes, and the angst.

He is the reason my canon Warden romances no one in Origins. She cannot bring herself to.

Hope you enjoyed. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Help give me motivation to continue.


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